September 21, 2002

The duplicitous cowards from the EU are condemning Israel’s defensive actions against Arafat’s terror compound. The French, fresh off of releasing a Nazi war criminal from prison, are demanding that Israel stop defending itself. How frustrating it must be for the Vichy collaborators to not be able to murder Jews firsthand, instead relying on their brethren in the PLO.

(Ha'aretz) The European Union's foreign policy coordinator Javier Solana expressed his deep concern Saturday over the action, saying it would not help end terror.

"This will not contribute to the end of terrorism," Solana said in a statement. He added that the siege would also hinder efforts to "consolidate a serious reform of the Palestinian Authority and to work forward to a peaceful settlement."

The EU's high representative for foreign and security policy said he had called Israeli leaders to express his concerns.

"Israel's legitimate security concerns will only be assured through cooperation and dialogue," Solana concluded.....

France said Saturday that the IDF destruction of the Ramallah compound is unacceptable and must stop.

"The military operations... are unacceptable. France demands that they cease immediately," said a Foreign Ministry statement.

"We renew our call to Israeli authorities to do nothing that undermines the physical integrity of the president of the Palestinian Authority and his ministers," the ministry said. (Emphasis added)

JERUSALEM, Sept. 21 — Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has informed the Bush administration that he plans to strike back if Iraq attacks Israel, according to Israeli and Western officials.

Mr. Sharon's statements, made privately to senior American officials in recent weeks, represent a major shift in Israeli thinking since the 1991 Persian Gulf war, when 39 Iraqi Scud missiles struck without any Israeli response.

The prime minister's position reflects a widespread belief among Israeli politicians and generals that Arab leaders perceived Israel's restraint in 1991 as weakness. Throughout his military and political career, Mr. Sharon has always held to the view that any attack on Israel must be promptly and powerfully punished.

"I don't think there is a scenario in which Israel will get hit and not strike back," said a senior Western official. "I think the evolving strategy will be commensurate response."

Mr. Sharon's position has significant implications for the Pentagon, which fears an Israeli entry would stir up Arab public opinion and make it harder for the Pentagon to maintain cooperation from the Arab states where Washington hopes to base American forces.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told Congress on Thursday that it would be in Israel's "overwhelming best interests" not to intervene if the United States went to war with Iraq.

The Pentagon is also planning military steps to reduce the Iraqi threat to Israel and obviate the need for an Israeli retaliatory strike. Israeli officials say they have been told by their American counterparts that the United States will mount an intensive campaign to destroy Iraqi missile launchers in western Iraq, an operation that would almost certainly require the use of American commandos in addition to airstrikes.

American officials have also assured the Israelis that they will receive adequate warning of when the American attack will begin, though American officials have not said how much notice they will provide.

For those who still read Reuters reports on the Conflict, while keeping your shirt clean: ever wondered about those "casualties scores" they so helpfully provide at the bottom? I did. Do they include the guys who are out on a date with 72 hot chicks? Or the ones who are the victims of the occupational hazards, associated with the employment at the explosive-belt industry?

Underlying the campaign against Hussein is US goal to stabilize the region by planting the roots of democracy.

Any US effort to oust Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein could end up changing much more than one nation's governing regime.

In fact, some administration officials believe that a successful anti-Hussein operation could tip the geopolitical balance of the entire Middle East in the US favor. It might spread democracy throughout a region that has seldom experienced it before, optimists say, while easing Israeli-Palestinian violence and lowering the price of oil, in the bargain.

In contrast, pessimists hold that a move against Hussein could light fires throughout one of the most flammable areas of the world, threatening pro-Western autocrats in Jordan and Saudi Arabia while turning ordinary Arabs against America for years to come.

Much depends on how the campaign against Hussein develops from here. But right now it seems possible that, one way or another, US intervention in Iraq could be a defining geopolitical event equal in import to the fall of the Shah of Iran or the 1967 Arab- Israeli War.

"What [the Bush administration] has in mind is a broad vision ... which really involves changing the character of the Middle East," says Meyrav Wurmser, director of the Center for Middle East Policy at the Hudson Institute.

In Washington it's clear that the faction of the administration most interested in pursuing military action against Saddam Hussein has goals for change that goes beyond Iraq's borders.

Lawrence H. Summers, President of Harvard, Speaks Out on Anti-Semitism

I am Jewish, identified but hardly devout. In my lifetime, anti-Semitism has been remote from my experience. My family all left Europe at the beginning of the 20th century. The Holocaust is for me a matter of history, not personal memory. To be sure, there were country clubs where I grew up that had few if any Jewish members, but not ones that included people I knew. My experience in college and graduate school, as a faculty member, as a government official -- all involved little notice of my religion.

For anyone who opposes the creation of a second Palestinian-Arab state in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, the recent news stories on the topic are no reason for jubilation. Quite the opposite.

The most upsetting are the results of a poll commissioned by IMRA and ZOA concerning Israelis’ views on such a state. According to an IMRA report posted on 18 September, 2002, the following results were obtained from Israeli Jews of voting age who responded to the question, Which is most acceptable to you with regards to the establishment of a Palestinian state?

25% A. For establishment of such a state because in the end it will bring peace between Israel and the Palestinians and the Arab states.

25% B. For establishment of a Palestinian state since it cannot be prevented.

21% C. Oppose establishment of Palestinian state but in practice its establishment cannot be prevented.

26% D. Oppose establishment of Palestinian state and believe its establishment can be prevented.

03% E. Other/Don't know

In other words, less than half of all Israeli Jews of voting age oppose a second Palestinian-Arab state, and of these “opposers”, almost half think such a state is inevitable.

And even as the primary lines of defence against the second Palestinian-Arab state seem to be weakening from within, the assault from without is gaining momentum.

The Quartet has just completed its most recent meeting, with such veteran anti-Israeli participants as Kofi, Solana, Chris Patten and Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller. In their communique, as posted by the State Department on 17 September, 2002, the Quartet members stated that they

agreed to intensify their efforts in support of their shared goal of achieving a final Israeli-Palestinian settlement based on their common vision, as inter alia expressed by President Bush, of two states, Israel and an independent, viable and democratic Palestine, living side by side in peace and security.

The statement then lists a thousand and one demands made on Israel, and at the very end makes a token, imperceptible reference to the terror which has been plaguing Israel for two years:

the Quartet calls on the Palestinians to work with the U.S. and regional partners to reform the Palestinian security services, strengthen policing and law and order for the civilian population, and fight the terror that has severely undermined the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinians.

Note that the reason the Quartet calls to “fight the terror” is because it “has severely undermined the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinians”. The fact that Palestinian homicidal maniacs are on the loose is of no concern; rather, it’s the “aspirations thing” that bothers the Quartet. And Colin Powell, one of the participants, gave his blessing to this document!

As I write, I’m thinking “Munich, September, 1938". Powell, no doubt, is bringing us Peace in Our Time.

Apparently, in Germany it's okay to liken the president of the United States to Hitler and to refuse to help an ally even though that ally defeated Nazism and Communism, but guys like Riad Barakat and his friends roam freely. According to Lingering Muslim Extremism Perplexes Tolerant Germany, an article in today's Wall St. Journal,

German cities are still home to extremist Muslims. That's raising the question here of what, if anything, should be done about men such as Mr. Barakat: immigrants who live off welfare, hold their new homeland in contempt and are in awe of bloody martyrdom...

Mr. Barakat...came to Germany in 1979 as a visitor from Syria. Like many men in the Muslim-extremist scene, he married a German woman, which gained him permanent residency. He fathered five children with her. Citing incompatibility, he says he divorced and remarried a Moroccan immigrant, with whom he has had two more children. For Mr. Barakat, who is 52 years old, work and success are unimportant. He says he has training in television repair and industrial electronics but hasn't held down a regular job since 1996...Mr. Barakat receives about $2,500 a month in payments from the government. He says he feeds his extended family's nine mouths on that and still managed to make a pilgrimage earlier this year to Mecca, in Saudi Arabia....

Sipping tea in the cafeteria of the nearby Central Mosque in Boeckmannstrasse, Mr. Barakat says he knew some of the Sept. 11 hijackers. He praises jihad and specifically approves of the al Qaeda terrorist network. "It is like other organizations -- a way to organize your life," he says. Untroubled by seeming contradiction, he also says, "I am against all forms of violence and am only interested in victory for Islam."...

The mosque and the nearby St. Georg Protestant Church were planning a joint religious service when the Sept. 11 attacks took place. Later the same week, the two went ahead with the joint service in the mosque. Prayers were said for the victims -- and the hijackers..."The reality is we're neighbors, and we have to get along," says Gunter Marwege, St. Georg's pastor...

Some mosques...such as al-Quds, have not curbed their anti-Semitic messages. Videotapes are still for sale at al-Quds extolling jihad and denouncing Jews, Israel and the U.S. Even the well-polished Mr. Yoldas [a Turkish-German community leader] lets his guard down sometimes. He says at one point that he can't blame members of al-Quds for refusing to talk to journalists, because they don't know who the journalists really are. "They might be Jews or American provocateurs," he says...

While many Germans accept their Muslim-immigrant neighbors, an undercurrent of skepticism has become more pronounced...Despite the spread of such concerns, discussion of immigrant extremism has been all but taboo during the national election campaign.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - Yasser Arafat ( news - web sites), caught in the tightest Israeli chokehold yet, pleaded for the world's help after troops blew up buildings in his compound Friday and started digging a deep trench and running coils of barbed wire around his office.

The White House urged Israel to show restraint, suggesting that too harsh a reprisal for a suicide bombing claimed by Arafat's Islamic militant rivals would upset efforts to reform the Palestinian Authority ( news - web sites) and secure a truce.

However, it appeared the siege would not end quickly.

Israel said troops would withdraw only after the surrender of 20 wanted men holed up in the compound, including West Bank intelligence chief Tawfik Tirawi, who is accused of involvement in shooting attacks against Israelis. For full story,
click here

The death toll from yesterday's murderous suicide attack in Tel Aviv rose
to six this afternoon with the death of Yoni Jesner, 17, of Glasgow,
Scotland. His parents said they would donate his organs for
transplantation. Yoni will be buried this afternoon. Four other victims
of yesterday's slaughter were laid to rest today:
* Bus driver Yossi Memistavlov, 40, of Or Yehuda, who drove the same #4 bus
line for 15 years. He left a wife and four children, the youngest of whom
is a month old.
* Solomon Hoenig, 79.
* Yaffa Shem-Tov Chanun, 49, of Tel Aviv.
* Ofer Zinger, 29, from Patzael. Ofer just recently completed his studies
in electronic engineering.

The funeral of Rosna Siso, 63, of Gan Yavneh has not yet been set. Six
victims listed in serious condition, and 20 others, are still hospitalized.

Despite the popular conception that this week's murders ended a five-week
"lull" in Palestinian terrorism against Israel, the IDF reports that there
have been 86 attacks in Judea and Samaria, and another 139 in Gaza, in the
past three weeks alone. During the month of August 2002, there were 393
terrorist attacks - including 137 in Yesha, 248 in Gaza, and another 8 in
pre-1967 Israel - which included Kassam missiles, mortar shells, grenades,
roadside bombs and drive-by shootings. For more details, see .

The IDF is set to keep Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat isolated in his Ramallah headquarters compound, the 'Mukata', according to a unanimous resolution arrived at by the government in its special emergency meeting Thursday night, Israel Radio reported.

Israel will also demand the extradition of men who are wanted by the IDF and who are holed up with Arafat in the Mukata, among them Tawfik Tirawi, the head of the West Bank branch of the General Intelligence Service, and the commander of Force 17 in Ramallah, Mahmoud Damara, the report added.

The two resolutions were arrived at unanimously at a 3-hour-long emergency government session Thursday night convened by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon following the latest spate of terror attacks that have left eight Israelis dead and scores wounded in the last two days.

According to the report, all of the high-ranking security officials who were present at the government's meeting were opposed to a suggested deportation of Arafat from the West bank, claiming if he were expelled, Israel's image in the international political arena would suffer.
via:Jerusalem Post

It seems that the same scholars who discovered the actual pictures of the 72 virgins awarded to suicide bombers have discovered some very relevant Islamic documents. It seems that the Muslim revival and use of the ancient claims of the ritual use of gentile blood by Jews, all though prominent in the media recently, seems to coincide with the advent of Wahhabiism.

These scholars believe that the frequent references by the Saudis to the use of blood by members of the parent religion of Islam may be a form of psychological projection and misdirection on the part of the Wahhabies. It seems that it also may be an attempt to project back into history some recently developed, disturbing practices.

At hint of what is happening is revealed in an article quoted in The Closed Circle by David Pryce-Jones (page 12) to demonstrate brutality:

Fifty Seven boxes were recently returned to the Kurdish city . . . by the Iraqi government authority. Each box contained a dead child, eyes gouged out and ashen white, apparently drained of blood.

The Kurdish form of Islam is considered heretical by the Wahhabies.

These scientists believe that in fact it is the Wahhabies who use the blood of non Wahhabies (especially Jews and Christians) to make ritual crackers and triangular pastries used to break the fast of Ramadan.

Other scientists believe that the data is a fabrication made to give the Saudis a bit of their own medicine.

All three judges of the Court of Appeal held that the position taken by the CCRA [Canada Customs and Revenue Agency] with regard to the Green Line [it would not register Jewish charities doing work in the territories but would register Muslimm or Christian ones] was wrong and that as a matter of law there was no reason why charitable work could not be carried on both in Israel proper and beyond the 1967 border. In effect, the court ruled that the approach used by the CCRA for at least the past 10 years was an incorrect interpretation of what is meant by "public policy."

Sent to me by and written by Steve Plaut, professor at University of Haifa, I believe.

Those who do not follow Israeli affairs closely might be surprised to
hear that the Ku Klux Klan operates in Israel.

Of course the Klan does not use its official KKK name in Israel.
Instead it calls itself the "Shinui" party. Shinui is a party with
several Knesset representatives whose Grand Wizard is Joseph "Tommy"
Lapid, a loud-mouthed vulgar buffoon. Shinui is a one-issue party and
that one issue is bashing the Orthodox and Judaism in Israel.

Lapid has led the campaign to serve pork in the Knesset cafeteria. He
has organized a campaign to boycott all kosher food. He demands that
cafes and restaurants stay open on Yom Kippur and that Israel state TV and
radio broadcast that day. And so on.

Today Lapid is in the local press (Haifa's Kolbo weekly, Sept 20,
2002) where he calls for the deportation of mothers of yeshiva students.

No I am not joking. As you know, the past couple of weeks Israel has
been considering deporting and expelling family members of Arab suicide
bombers. That does not interest Lapid. Instead, he is all worked up
because Israel's laws allow deportation of people illegally in the
country. Ordinarily of course that law would just apply to Palestinians
illegally working in Israel or guest workers from Nigeria and Thailand who
overstay their visas. But technically it could also apply to others,
including the non-Jewish relatives of any immigrant from the ex-Soviet
countries in Israel without the proper visa. I say non-Jewish, because
the Jewish relatives are automatically entitled to stay on as long as they
wish under Israel's Law of Return.

Immigrants from the ex-Soviet countries are not all Jewish and
not all of their relatives are Jewish. So while it has never happened and
no one is suggesting it ever will, in theory and on paper a non-Jewish
relative of - say - a soldier immigrant from the Ukraine could have
relatives illegally in Israel without the right papers who are subject to
possible expulsion.

Tommy the Klanster has decided to make this hypothetical expulsion into
campaign fodder. Even though no such relative of an Israeli has nor will
be expelled, Tommy is outraged. Instead of expelling such relatives, let
us expel the mothers of yeshiva students in Israel, he bellows. Quote
unquote.

Yossi Melman argues that while a Palestinian state is the best solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict, the 'right of return' to Israel for Palestinians cannot happen.

The right of the Palestinians to have a state is undeniable. They deserve it no less than the Israelis. The creation of such a state should not only be aimed at correcting an historic injustice. It must serve as the homeland for the Palestinian refugees. Otherwise, Israelis will ask, what is the point of creating a new state which demands that its refugee population be absorbed by its neighbour? The Palestinian argument only fuels Israeli fears that what Palestinians really have in mind is to change the demographic and ethnic fabric of Israel and eventually to take it over.

I agree entirely, though I think Melman sells himself short on the reasons for the Palestinian 'diaspora':

It took many years until Israeli historiography and public opinion were mature enough to admit that many Palestinians were expelled from their homes by Israeli troops and only a minority left of their own will.

The truth is the reverse of this: a minority were indeed expelled during the 1948 war, but the evidence points the finger of blame in a rather different direction as far as the majority of refugees goes:

"This wholesale exodus was due partly to the belief of the Arabs, encouraged by the boastings of an unrealistic Arabic press and the irresponsible utterances of some of the Arab leaders that it could be only a matter of weeks before the Jews were defeated by the armies of the Arab States and the Palestinian Arabs enabled to re­enter and retake possession of their country." (Secretary of the Arab League Office in London, Edward Atiyah)

"Since 1948 we have been demanding the return of the refugees to their homes. But we ourselves are the ones who encouraged them to leave. Only a few months separated our call to them to leave and our appeal to the United Nations to resolve on their return." (Haled al Azm, the Syrian Prime Minister in 1948­-49)

"The Arab government told us: Get out so that we can get in. So we got out, but they did not get in." (refugee quoted in the Jordan newspaper, Ad Difaa)

"The Secretary-General of the Arab League, Azzam Pasha, assured the Arab peoples that the occupation of Palestine and Tel Aviv would be as simple as a military promenade. He pointed out that they were already on the frontiers and that all the millions the Jews had spent on land and economic development would be easy booty, for it would be a simple matter to throw Jews into the Mediterranean....Brotherly advice was given to the Arabs of Palestine to leave their land, homes and property and to stay temporarily in neighboring fraternal states, lest the guns of the invading Arab armies mow them down." (Habib Issa said in the New York Lebanese paper, Al Hoda)

"The tragedy of the Palestinians was that most of their leaders had paralyzed them with false and unsubstantiated promises that they were not alone; that 80 million Arabs and 400 million Muslims would instantly and miraculously come to their rescue." (Jordan's King Abdullah, writing in his memoirs)

Israelis, of course, did little to stop the Arabs leaving the newborn state (though the case of Haifa, mentioned in the same article, is apparently an exception), and there is no doubt that Israel benefitted from the flight of the Arabs. But this, as the evidence would seem to suggest, was simply good luck on their part rather than design. And of course, to have actively prevented the Arabs from leaving Israel would have left Israel open to charges of using Arabs as 'human shields.' Heads I win, tails you lose.

The Palestinians have learned, as the Lebanese learned during the 1980s, that their Arab brothers are not going to rush to their aid against Israel unless it happens to be in their interest, and that those militant organisations supported politically and financially from outside (such as Hezbollah, which relies on the political goodwill of Syria and the financial backing of Iran) can be nullified very quickly if that support is removed.

We hear a great deal about the 'root causes' of terrorism. If you, Israel, wish to address the root causes of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah: don't go to South Lebanon or Judea or Samaria or Gaza - go to Damascus, go to Tehran, go to Riyadh. Speak to the people who really will make a difference, and take something ripe and juicy to sell them. A withdrawal from Golan, for example, or a Palestinian state. In the battle for land you have Hamas and Hezbollah at a severe disadvantage; in the battle for hearts and minds, however, they're kicking your ass bigtime.

We pay. You stay. Might be cheaper in the long run if instead of bribing Palestinians to continue their attempt to destroy the State of Israel tthe UAE tell the Palestinians to settle with a peace accord, get statehood, and get on with a decent life for all in the region. Seems that by sending bribe money, they can "help their brothers," continue from a safe distance to attempt the destruction of Israel at a small and cost, and continue the chaos engendered since Israel became a state.

Abu Sultan
The UAE is providing aid to the Palestinian civilians in the Occupied Territories through four or five channels, Saleem Abu Sultan, the Palestinian Consul General in Dubai, told Gulf News in an exclusive interview here yesterday.

He praised the role of the ruling family of the UAE and especially the President His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan for financially helping not only the Palestinians but Muslims around the world.

He said: "The President feels the pain of the Islamic and the Arab world truly and deals with each problem in a way as if he himself is suffering and this has made his people follow in his footsteps.

"I speak with you today not as president of the university but as a concerned member of our community about something that I never thought I would become seriously worried about – the issue of anti-Semitism," he said in his address at morning prayers earlier this week.

After a highly publicized national spectacle in which he was accused of racism by one of his own faculty members, Summers says he never thought he would see the day when the specter of anti-Semitism reared its ugly head in America.

"I am Jewish, identified but hardly devout," he said. "In my lifetime, anti-Semitism has been remote from my experience. My family all left Europe at the beginning of the 20th century. The Holocaust is for me a matter of history, not personal memory. To be sure, there were country clubs where I grew up that had few if any Jewish members, but not ones that included people I knew. My experience in college and graduate school, as a faculty member, as a government official – all involved little notice of my religion."

Why one should oppose a second Palestinian-Arab state in Judea, Samaria and Gaza - Part 5 of 23

This piece continues a series the first parts of which were posted on September 8, 9, 11 and 17, 2002. The object of the series is to provide a data base that is not only reliable and well-documented but also one for which documents are easily accessible, preferably from web resources.

5. The notion of the Palestinian Arabs as a nation is a recent invention. Palestine's Arabs are indistinguishable from the Arabs in neighbouring countries, especially the Arabs in Jordan, which is in effect a Palestinian-Arab state. Creating a second Palestinian-Arab state, which would be the 22nd Arab state, is unjustified.

The questions of the “Palestinians” as a nation and “Palestine” as a state are interwoven, but for discussion purposes it is useful to separate the two. The current piece deals with the “Palestinians”, while the next article will deal with “Palestine”.

The most convincing substantiation of the statement asserting that the Palestinians are an integral part of the Arabs and not a distinct nation, is the PLO Charter itself, available from many web site, such as that of Yale Law School. The text of the PLO charter reads:

Article 1. Palestine is the homeland of the Arab Palestinian people; it is an indivisible part of the Arab homeland, and the Palestinian people are an integral part of the Arab nation. ...
Article 14. The destiny of the Arab nation, and indeed Arab existence itself, depend upon the destiny of the Palestine cause. From this interdependence springs the Arab nation's pursuit of, and striving for, the liberation of Palestine. The people of Palestine play the role of the vanguard in the realization of this sacred (qawmi) goal.

Another Palestinian-Arab terrorist organization, the PFLP, echoes this view:

The strategic vision of the PFLP is based on the following:
1. liberation from Israeli occupation
2. construction of a democratic society
3. recognition that the Palestinian people are an integral part of the Arab Nation

A much-quoted passage from an interview with Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee member Zahir Muhsein underscores this point. The following quotation is from an article entitled “Palestinian people do not exist”, by Joseph Farah, July 11, 2002:

Way back on March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview with Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:
“The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.
For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan.”

In an earlier article, Myths of the Middle East, October 11, 2000, Joseph Farah , states bluntly:

What makes a separate people? Religion, language, culture, garb, cuisine, etc., etc. The Arabs in Palestine speak the same language, practice the same religion, have the same culture, etc., etc., as all the other Arabs.

There is no language known as Palestinian. There is no distinct Palestinian culture. There has never been a land known as Palestine governed by Palestinians. Palestinians are Arabs, indistinguishable from Jordanians (another recent invention), Syrians, Lebanese, Iraqis, etc. Keep in mind that the Arabs control 99.9 percent of the Middle East lands. Israel represents one-tenth of 1 percent of the landmass.

During the British Mandate, “Palestinian” was virtually synonymous with “Palestinian-Jewish”, as in “Palestine Zionist Executive”, “Palestine Symphony Orchestra”, “Palestine Post”, etc. On the other hand, the Arabs of Palestine and “Transjordan” used “Arab”, as in “Arab Higher Committee”, “Arab Legion”, “Arab Liberation Army”, “Arab Rebellion of 1936-39", “Arab National Guard” - almost never “Palestinian”. In the rare case when “Palestine” was used, it was accompanied by “Arab”, as in “Palestine Arab Executive” and “Palestine Arab Party” - not “Palestinian Arab Executive”, etc. The “Palestine National Congress” may be cited as a counter-example, however, this body advocated that Palestine come under Syrian sovereignty: it considered Palestine to be southern Syria.

After WW I, as Britain and France carved up the Middle East, they created the states and/or the boundaries of Iraq, Transjordan, Syria/Lebanon, Palestine and Arabia, and the Arabs in these areas found themselves in different states, even though they were essentially one people.

It is also instructive to note that neither the text of the Mandate nor the King-Crane report of 1919 (which apologists for the Palestinian Arabs quote routinely) make any reference to a “Palestinian people” or a “Palestinian nation”; rather, the terms used are such terms as “the non-Jewish population of Palestine”.

If the Palestinian-Arabs are indeed indistinguishable from other Arabs as this piece contends, then the argument of “self-determination” is invalid, as is the call for a sovereign state in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

For the sake of discussion, assume, however, that the Palestinian-Arabs are a “nation”. In that case, one can argue that Jordan is their country, as the Israeli representative to the UN, Joseph Tekoah, stated in the UN assembly way back on 13 November, 1974:

42. Geographically and ethnically Jordan is Palestine. Historically both the West and East banks of the Jordan river are parts of the Land of Israel or Palestine. Both were parts of Palestine under the British Mandate until Jordan and then Israel became independent. The population of Jordan is composed of two elements -- the sedentary population and nomads. Both are, of course, Palestinian. The nomad Bedouins constitute a minority of Jordan's population. Moreover, the majority of the sedentary inhabitants, even on the East Bank, are of Palestinian West Bank origin. Without the Palestinians, Jordan is a State without a people.

43. That is why when, on 29 April 1950, King Abdullah inaugurated the commemorative session of the Jordanian Parliament he declared: "I open the session of the Parliament with both banks of the Jordan united by the will of one people, one homeland and one hope".

44. On 23 August 1959, the Prime Minister of Jordan stated: "We are the Government of Palestine, the army of Palestine and the refugees of Palestine".

45. Indeed, the vast majority of Palestinian refugees never left Palestine, but moved, as a result of the 1948 and 1967 wars, from one part of the country to another. At the same time, an approximately equal number of Jewish refugees fled from Arab countries to Israel.

46. It is, therefore, false to allege that the Palestinian people has been deprived of a State of its own or that it has been uprooted from its national homeland. Most Palestinians continue to live in Palestine. Most Palestinians continue to live in a Palestinian State. The vast majority of Palestinian Arabs are citizens of that Palestinian State.

47. "Jordan is Palestine and Palestine is Jordan", declared on 9 December 1970 the late Dr. Kadri Toukan, a prominent West Bank leader and former Foreign Minister of Jordan.

48. Mr. Anwar Nuseibe, another Palestinian West Bank personality and a former Jordanian Defence Minister, stated on 23 October 1970:

"The Jordanians are also Palestinians. This is one State. This is one people. The name is not important. The families living in Salt, Irbid and Karak maintain not only family and matrimonial ties with the families in Nablus and Hebron. They are one people."
...
50. Even if the appellation "Palestinian" were confined to the West Bank, there is today, as already indicated, an overwhelming preponderance of Palestinians of West Bank descent in the population of the East Bank, as well as in the Jordanian Government. For instance, Queen Alia, Prime Minister Rifa'i, more than half of the Cabinet Ministers and of the members of Parliament, the Speaker of the Parliament, the Mayor of Amman, all hail from the West Bank.

After steadily chipping away at the halls of Indian political establishments, the Israeli lobby has finally convinced the Indian government that they have more common cause with Israel than the rest of the Arab world.

India's remarkable change of stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict shows the impact of the pro-Israel policymakers in New Delhi. Having been in the forefront of support for Yasser Arafat and the Palestine Liberation Organization for decades, India today is a silent spectator, refusing to comment on the Israeli actions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip

Aside from the slightly mocking tone of the writer, who seems aghast at this reversal of the status quo, I would have to say things are going very well between the two countries. Israel is now the number two supplier of military equipment to India. (Finally, the Indian armed forces will get equipment that actually *works* instead of rusting Russian junk). Arafats lobbyists are reduced to getting pro-Palestinian statements from third-level functionaries. There is a new understanding that these two nations have common enemies, common economic futures, and this so-called *new* relationship is just a good thing for all around.

In retrospect, all of this seems blindingly obvious. Israel has enormous human, cultural and technological capital to offer not just India, but the world. The Palestinians have nothing to offer but new vistas of death. Pity, that. They could be learning so much from the Israeli experiment, not trying to destroy it in blind anger.

September 19, 2002

With blood running in the streets, Peres is busy at the UN praising the barbarians and declaring that Israel is ready to surrender to terror.

(Arutz Sheva) Foreign Minister Shimon Peres used his address to the United Nations General Assembly yesterday to applaud Yasser Arafat's Fatah terror organization. Peres praised Fatah's recent call to establish an independent "State of Palestine" based on democratic principles with respect for human rights, civil liberties and a market economy. Peres said, "We look upon these words as a first dawn of a different season. We hope it is spring."

Peres failed to condemn Fatah and its branches for perpetrating the majority of terror attacks against Israelis since the start of the Oslo War two years ago. Just last week, Fatah leaders rejected a rough draft of a proposal calling for an end to their campaign of violence against Israeli citizens. Even the rejected draft did not rule out attacks against civilians within Yesha (Judea, Samaria, and Gaza) or against soldiers.

Later in his speech, Peres seemed to criticize the defensive measures used by the IDF to combat the Palestinian threat. "While fighting terror, let's not fight people. While seeking freedom, let's not extend subjugation," he said.

(IDF Spokesperson's Unit) Last night (17 September 2002), in the afternoon, a large explosive device was activated against an IDF force in Han-Yunis. The device was thrown towards the soldiers by a small child, who was one of a group of Palestinian children who gathered together near an IDF Armored Personnel Carrier and threw stones an IDF military installation in the area.

The brigade commander, Captain S. said that "During the afternoon hours, at around 16:30, we identified a group of approx. 50-80 children approaching the installation. The Children started throwing stones at the fence and at the installation. I boarded an Armored Personnel Carrier in order to send out a warning signal and make them leave the area. Several children, including teenagers, approached the Armored Personnel Carrier. I shot a few warning shots at the children ran away to the nearby neighborhood. One of children threw an object at me. The object, which seemed to be a bomb or a grenade exploded about 50 meters from me".

In reference to this, we herby bring the words of Abu Mazen, the deputy of the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority, who warned about the terror organizations exploiting the Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip and using the for carrying our terror attacks in the State of Israel.

Abu Mazen revealed that the Palestinian terror organizations pay each child Five Israeli Shekels (a little more than One US Dollar) for each explosive device they activate against the IDF soldiers. Abu Mazen says that some children suffered injuries as a result of their using the explosives.

"I oppose little children going to die. This is horrible thing. At leat 40 children from the city of Raphah have lost their arms as a result of the explosions of pipe bombs. Thet received five Israeli shekels for throwing them. Who is willing for such a thing to happen to his son or family? In the end, there was much ado concerning the 13-year old children sent to the communities. What is being done about this? (Emphasis added)

The Palestinian Authority has announced that presidential and legislative elections will be held next January.
Saeb Erekat, an aide to Yasser Arafat, told a news conference in Jericho that the Palestinian leader had given the order for the ballots to be held between 10 and 20 January.

The images out of Tel Aviv this morning are heart wrenching. At least six Israelis are dead and dozens wounded in the worst terrorist attack since August 2nd. Sources in Israel and in the U.S. intelligence community indicate that an evil new "competition" has erupted between Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah over who can be the most successful at killing Jews. The three groups believe they will "win the hearts" of the Arab people if they can produce enough dead bodies.

Here are two things to keep in mind as you watch the news coverage today. It is inaccurate for reporters or Palestinian apologists to say there has been a six-week "lull" in terrorist attacks on Israel. Rather, there have been six weeks of extremely successful Israeli counter-terrorism actions. Scores of attacks were thwarted by the Israeli army in the last six weeks. This one, unfortunately, got through.

Secondly, Islamic Jihad took "credit" for the carnage this morning. Fox News reported that the message said, "This is our land and we will never give it up." Think long and hard about that. This was not a bombing in the West Bank or Gaza or any disputed territory. Tel Aviv is the cultural, financial and commercial heart of Israel. Once again the real agenda of the Palestinian Muslim extremists has been displayed - drive the Jews into the sea.

Meanwhile at the U.N. yesterday, Secretary of State Powell once again committed to a Palestinian state with "provisional borders" by 2003 and permanent borders by 2005.

When Palestinians speak of Israeli civilians, they exclude current and former members of the IDF as well as those who reside in the disputed territories. This extremely narrow definition of civilian is why any Palestinian offer to try to stop attacks against Israeli civilians is worthless, even if they were to honor their word as they have never done in the past.

Today comes further clarification of Palestinian terminology. In an interview with Fox News, a spokesman for the Hamas terrorist group, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, said "All Palestinians are civilians. We have no army." When pressed by the interviewer if he would classify this morning's suicide bomber as a civilian, Rantisi avoided answering the question.

September 19, 2002 -- Israel found itself under attack again yesterday - at a bus stop where a homicide bomber blew himself up, and on a fashion runway in Beirut, where a shocking, blood-splattered dress was featured.
The "revolutionary" new dress, designed "in solidarity with the Palestinian uprising against Israel," was on display for Lebanese fashionistas.

With its depictions of bloodstains, bullet holes and tanks moving through a desolate rock-strewn landscape, the floor-length gown was featured as part of a collection at an Arab fashion festival which coincided with New York's own Fashion Week.

Tel Aviv Bus Bomb Kills 6, Hurts 49 "A suicide bomber blew himself up on a crowded bus in downtown Tel Aviv on Thursday, killing at least six other people and wounding 49 in the second such attack in two days after a six-week lull. "

Many articles have been written attempting to explain the malevolence the Left feels towards Israel. And the further left you go, this malevolence slowly turns into outright hatred. The common explanation is then offered, although obviously with some variations, that Israel represents the ideals of the Right (free-market democracy, standing up for their own), while the Palestinians are practically stereotypical candidates to be objects of the Left's fawning ("victims", poorer than the Israelis, etc.). It follows from this explanation that the Left's and Europe's anti-Semitism result from Israel's behavior and it's being reflected by them on all world Jewry. There obviously is an element of racism and classical anti-Semitism involved here - blaming one Jew for another's behavior, assuming worldwide Jewry is just one big unified cartel, and so on. But anti-Semitism is not the root, rather an effect.

I feel, however, that the cause of the Left's animosity towards Israel is not Israel's behavior, behavior that identifies it with the Right. For one thing, I don't think that most of Israel's behavior can be classified as "Right". To take one example, Israel is basically a socialist country.

My take on the situation is that the Left hates Israel because the stereotype of a Jew conflicts with Leftist values. And since many of those venomously opposing Israel are, consciously or not, anti-Semitic, they view Israel as the collective embodiment of the stereotypical Jew. The stereotypical Jew is a money-grubbing capitalist. He is part of a global cabal, which seeks to dominate the world and is extremely nationalistic and jingoistic. Nationalism-jingoism and capitalism are the two main enemies of the "social justice" crusader. Based on this view, the Left's anti-Israelism results directly from anti-Semitism.

There are a number of reasons that have led me to reject the first view and adopt the second. For starters, Israel's behavior is hardly compatible with the way it is depicted by the extreme Left. Their depiction is much more in line with the way a classic anti-Semite would imagine a Jewish State would behave.

Secondly, the behavior and views of the anti-Israel left. Within the Western world there are both people holding pro-Israeli views and people holding pro-Palestinian views. But upon closer examination, there are actually three groups of opinion regarding the Israeli-Palestinian situation. There are those who are interested in Israel's success only. They are less interested in the Palestinian's fate for a number of reasons; either because they believe Israel has an historical right to the entire land (evangelists, for instance), or because they believe the Palestinians have forfeited their right to decent people's sympathies by virtue of their despicable behavior regarding the conflict with Israel. These people are obviously not indifferent to the Palestinian's plight, they hope for them to be able to lead peaceful, successful, normal lives, but don't envision that happening in a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. The second group would like to see an equitable agreement as the end to this conflict. The Israelis should have their state alongside a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, and the two people will then live side by side as peaceful neighbors. The third group believes that the Palestinians have a right to all of Israel (well, they would call it Palestine). The Jews may stay there, and they may even allow for a representative government including both Jews and Arabs. However, everyone knows that this would be a disaster for the Jews for two reasons. One, the Arabs would quickly become the majority, and would in all likelihood turn the country into an Arab-run dictatorship that would not be a friendly place for Jews to live, to say the least. Two, "extremist" groups, like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, upon the dismantling of the IDF, would kill lots of Jews.

For some reason, those holding the middle view, that of two states, are grouped as pro-Israel. In fact, the majority of those termed pro-Israel belong to this middle group. Only an insignificant minority wishes to see the Palestinians disenfranchised. On the other hand, nearly the entire pro-Palestinian group would like to see the Jews of Israel wiped off the map. The fact that one who wants to see the Palestinians achieve statehood, albeit alongside a Jewish state is considered to be pro-Israel, while only one who wishes the demise of Israel can be considered pro-Palestinian leads me to believe that the anti-Israel Left's problem isn't with the "occupation", it's with the Jews having their own state. And why would that bother them - because they're anti-Semites first, anti-Israel second, and they therefore believe that a Jewish state would necessarily behave like the anti-Semitic caricature of a Jew, who represents the antithesis of what they believe.

The extreme Left's anti-Semitism is also apparent with regards to another issue - the myth of the all-powerful rich Jewish lobby. There were recently two congressional races in which blacks holding extremely anti-Israeli views were defeated by other blacks. The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), a well-known bastion of extreme-Left viewpoints, held meetings this past week in which this issue was discussed. Since many Jewish groups contributed to help unseat the two Congress-people, the CBC blamed the Jews for unseating black members of Congress, and therefore of being racists. They also promised retribution. They conveniently ignored three facts: (i) Lobbyists, however powerful they may be, can't vote. The people of the two districts voted, the "Jewish Lobbyists" just helped to better inform them regarding who they were voting for. (ii) It is abundantly clear that the Jewish groups were not against these candidates because they were black, rather they were against them because they were vehemently anti-Israel. That they happen to also be black is purely coincidental. (iii) That the two candidates who won are also black.

Since the CBC, a card carrying member of the far Left, is blaming a powerful rich Jewish Lobby (basically a thinly veiled version of the Elders of Zion) of intentionally causing black candidates to lose Congressional election because they're black, when that is clearly not the case, is simply racism.

Some may think this view, of rampant anti-Semitism among the far Left, is paranoid. I disagree, and I feel that I have succeeded in briefly presenting some persuasive arguments in favor of this view. Whether paranoid or not, however, this view is definitely very pessimistic. It means that Israel is irredeemably bad as far as the Left (and Europe) is concerned, and irredeemably bad things must be destroyed. Because they are irredeemable, they are inherently and intrinsically bad, and have no value. This would also explain why so many "peaceniks" on the Left have advocated and endorsed some very un-peacenik measures taken and to be taken against Israel.

In any event, Israel is left with no choice other than to continue to thrive - and success, for the most part, breeds admiration.

The first concerns the terrorist Tamils. An AP story, 18 Sept 2002, headlined, Tamil Rebels Back Off Independence reports as follows:

Tamil Tiger rebels wrapped up a historic peace conference on Wednesday demanding only self-determination, and not full independence, from Sri Lanka — the clearest sign yet that they are determined to negotiate an end to 19 years of bloody civil war...

It was the Tigers' strongest declaration that they will settle for autonomy rather than outright nationhood to resolve their separatist struggle. The conflict has threatened to break up the island country and has killed more than 64,500 people since 1983.

The second story concerns the so called “Quartet”, which I prefer to call “The 1938/2002 Munich Gang”. Under the headline, Diplomats Plan Palestinian State, the AP story reads as follows:

Diplomats trying to stop the fighting between Israel and the Palestinians are trying to forge a deal under which there would be a provisional Palestinian state next year and a final settlement of the conflict by 2005.

Why is it that the Tamils can settle for autonomy, while “The 1938/2002 Munich Gang” insists on a second sovereign Palestinian-Arab state? Why is it that the autonomy framework worked out in the Oslo Accords has now degenerated further into Palestinian-Arab sovereignty?

“The 1938/2002 Munich Gang” is on the verge of forcing Israel to hand over the Sudetenland-equivalent to terrorists - let us wake up before it is too late!

September 18, 2002

Logrolling for Reuters at the Financial Times

Today's Financial Times carries a puff piece defending Reuters against claims that it is biased. It doesn't even bother to quote any Reuter's critics. Instead, it quotes the International Federation of Journalists and the head of Reuters itself. Journalists protecting their own.

For example,

The International Federation of Journalists, which has accused the US and other administrations of fostering a "pervasive atmosphere of paranoia" over the past year, argues that the organisation must resist state intervention.

"Reuters feeds so many outlets and is so global it is essential it sticks to its guns. When politicians wander into our newsrooms it is because they want us to act as their propagandists," says Aidan White, secretary-general of the Brussels-based IFJ.

Oh, like being paranoid about, say, terrorists murdering thousands of Americans and Israelis? And exactly what "state intervention" are they referring to?

Regarding their coverage, the FT gives Reuters a chance to explain itself without rebuttal:

"It is more important than ever to be able to show the conflict from all sides," says Mr Jukes. "Take the Arab-Israeli conflict. I think it is generally true that the perspective in the US is more pro-Israeli and more from the Arab side in Europe. Our job is to cut through all that ...I don't think we should hide our own internal tensions on these things."

Seeing it from all sides apparently means putting scare quotes around the U.S. and Israel wars on terror and terrorists, but not around the phrase, Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation.

And despite the criticism, they still don't get it:

In the Middle East, a system of cross-checking by in-house Arab and Israeli Reuters editors has not silenced external claims of bias. Other working practices are forced on the group: Palestinian staff cannot get media accreditation in Israel, while Israelis cannot operate in the West Bank.

As with all its 198 bureaux worldwide, the Middle East offices are subject to an annual "audit" by a visiting editor who samples copy for bias and quality. Though the practice has been unpopular with correspondents, executives say it is needed when its staff produce about three million words a day.

They need a new auditor. I think I could find some time.

But all is not lost:

Reuters will continue to hold out against pressures - whether from US public opinion or the restrictive new media law in Zimbabwe, says Mr Jukes. Yet, at the same time, he accepts that the news organisation has to take account of the views of customers ranging from news and financial clients to individuals reading Reuters stories on the web. "There were times when journalists felt they had a divine right to say what people wanted to read. I think those times have moved on."

As for Islam itself, Mr. Graham believes that it is, as the phrase goes, a religion of peace. He explains that many everyday human-rights abuses committed in the name of Islam really occur because the Muslim world happens to overlap with a large swath of the impoverished world.

What about, I asked him, the Nigerian court that upheld an Islamic code requiring that a woman be stoned to death for adultery? The sentence, Mr. Graham says, isn't required by Islam. It is the result we'd expect in an undeveloped nation. "Not to apologize for it," he told me, but give these nations "200 years of development" and things will be different. It's not unlike the social norms "imposed by 18th-century American Protestantism."

What about the fundamentalist London cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri? Here is an imam who admits to sharing the views of Osama bin Laden and to being a Taliban sympathizer. "I think you can find more than Sheik Hamza," Mr. Graham explains. "Look at the IRA." Any faith has its extremists.

How should Americans view Saudi Arabia, a nation with a rigid patriarchal society that forces women to wear abayas and accept arranged marriages, that keeps them from owning property and requires them not to walk on the street without a male escort? "I don't think half of society would say they were oppressed there," Mr. Graham says of Saudi women. We look at it from our vantage point, he notes, not with Saudi eyes. Besides, Americans should not throw stones. "We're a country that can't pass an equal rights amendment." This is also the land where McCarthyism happened, he adds.

Anger at the Release of French Nazi Papon See article. A 93 year old Jew should shoot Papon to death and then plead that he is too old to go to jail. That would be poetic justice.

""This is abnormal, we have to demonstrate," said Mouloud Aounit, head of the MRAP anti-racist group. "They should have freed all ailing prisoners and those over 90 and Maurice Papon should have been the last to leave and turn off the light." "

Pipes on Colorado College and Concordia UniversityInstapundit excerpts Daniel Pipes on the differences between the reaction to the speakers at Colorado College and Concordia University:

These two parallel yet contrasting episodes point to several conclusions:

* Both sides of the Arab-Israeli conflict are seeking to shift the terms of the debate. The pro-Israel side wants to delegitimize speakers who effectively call for the destruction of the Jewish state. The anti-Israel side wants to block speakers sympathetic to Israel.

* Both incidents point to profound problems in the university, and why Abigail Thernstrom calls it "an island of repression in a sea of freedom." In Colorado, the administration made the morally idiotic choice of honoring an apologist for terrorism. At Concordia, a weak-kneed response let thugs inhibit free speech.

* The incidents also point to the differing faces of pro- and anti-Israel activism, with the former acceptably political and the latter crudely violent. The first resembles the restrained actions of the Israeli armed forces. The second represents a North American face of the suicide bombings.

Or, in the most elemental terms, we see here the contrast between the civilized nature of Israel and its friends versus the raw barbarism of Israel's enemies.

The anti-Israel media is reporting that Israel rejected a cease fire offer. The only problem with these head lines is that there was no cease fire offered.

The Palestinian Authority "will be ready to encourage all Palestinians to stop targeting Israeli civilians," he said [Palestinian Planning Minister Nabil], adding that he also sought an Israeli promise to stop killing suspected Palestinian militants and destroying houses.

"If Israel will do that, then this will pave a way for a comprehensive cease-fire, but unfortunately Mr. Peres said that he rejects it," he told The Associated Press.

OK now, lets get this straight. You will encourage (not force) palestinian groups to stop killing some Israelis and thereby condoning and increasing the other killings in return for Israel to stop some of its efforts to fight terrorism. The pals need to get a better quality of hashish.

On 9/11 Anniversary, Newspapers in Arab World Blame Jews and America for Attacks

"At a time when nations of the world are joining with the United States in remembrance and renewal on September 11, newspapers in the Arab world continue to serve up a diet of anti-Semitic and anti-American hate," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. "The worst of the cartoons suggest that Jews either profited from or orchestrated the September 11 attacks, which is another extension of the big lie that is widely accepted as truth in the Arab world. "

For full article and the Arab anti-Jewish/Israeli cartoons,
[click here]

[W]ith the Palestinians’ cities in ruin, their leader isolated and Palestinian public figures increasingly admitting that the intifada has been disastrous for their cause, Israeli politicians are beginning to believe that the end of the onslaught is in sight.

...

The ragged Israeli withdrawal [from Lebanon] in May 2000 led many Arabs to conclude that sustained violence and even moderate casualties would lead Israel to beat a similarly chaotic retreat from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

What they [Palestinians] hadn’t counted on is that Israelis would react differently when the battle was not on some distant border but in the heart of their capital or in the cities of their densely populated coastal plain.

Israelis grieved over their losses and changed their lifestyles, but even after two years of unremitting violence, they show no signs of folding

...

On the contrary, Israel has proven it can not just take a hit, but can hit back hard.

...

Israeli society must show no signs of cracking and Israeli politicians must offer no concessions under threat of violence, he [Chief of Staff Lt. Gen Moshe Ya’alon] says — or there will be no end to Palestinian terror designed to force Israeli concessions.

Discussions on the Syrian Accountability Act by the House Subcommittee on Foreign Affairs were to begin last Thursday, but at the last moment the U.S. administration requested a delay and they were postponed by a week. The postponement did not come as a surprise to congressmen involved in the issue: the Bush administration has not hidden its dissatisfaction with a law that will necessitate sanctions on Syria if it continues to support terror organizations, specifically Hezbollah, just when the U.S. is focusing its efforts on an assault on Iraq.

The legislation, initiated by House Republican Majority Leader Dick Armey and New York Democratic Congressman Eliot Angel, is similar to other laws enacted by Congress and which try to compel the government to act against states and organizations that support terror. The legislation, however, also includes a clause that enables the president to ignore the law on the grounds of national security. Similar acts against the Palestinian Authority, Iran and Libya have also been passed.

Wartime collaborator Maurice Papon, imprisoned for his role in sending Jews to Nazi death camps, was released Wednesday after a court ruled he was too old and sick to serve out his 10-year sentence. . . .

Papon led the Bordeaux area police during the Nazi occupation of France and was convicted in 1998 for signing orders that led to the deportation of 1,690 Jews from Bordeaux from 1942-44. Most were sent to Auschwitz, and all but a handful died.

Papon's lawyers had repeatedly asked that Papon be released from La Sante prison in Paris because of his age and ill health. His continuing imprisonment had sparked an ongoing debate in France about jailing the elderly, and two French former prime ministers were among those who had called for Papon's release. . . .

Papon fled to Switzerland after his conviction, but was
arrested and began serving his sentence in October 1999.
Last year, he wrote in a letter to France's justice minister that he felt neither "regrets or remorse" for his acts.

This guy does not look too feeble. He walked out of jail, not in a wheel chair, no oxygen tank.

I guess now he is free to kill as many more Jews as he would like and does not risk being put in jail. Should he be in jail along with all other nazi murderers, of course. But (and I do not want to be misunderstood here) to the extent he was the only French guy put in jail for the crimes of the French, he might as well be released so that now it can be said that the French did nothing to bring to justice the murderers of thousands of its Jewish citizens.

There's been another suicide bombing in Northern Israel. Details are sketchy at this point and the only web story I've been able to find is this one.

Several people were reported injured Wednesday afternoon in an apparent suicide bombing near the Umm al Fahm junction in the Wadi Ara region.

Army Radio reported that the attack took place at a bus stop, and the bomber detonated himself after spotting several policeman. The radio added that the bomber walked up to a police car, exchanged several words with the policemen, and then exploded.

Avi Zohar, Director General of Magen David Adom said that three to four people had been wounded, two of them critically.

JERUSALEM –– Israel turned down a Palestinian offer to halt attacks on civilians as the first stage of a gradual truce, and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Wednesday he would settle for nothing less than a "total cessation" of violence. For full article, including update on most recent violence,
[click here]

The London Based al-Sharq al-Awsat daily said Saturday that Jordan has started the construction of an international highway between the Jordanian capital Amman and Jerusalem, noting that the Jordanian ministry of public works recently announced a bid for constructing and asphalt the first phase of the road as part of Amman- Jerusalem road which is known as Amman- Dead Sea road.

The paper quoted well- informed sources in Amman as saying that enlarging the road comes in the course of a political project to construct an international highway between Amman and Jerusalem, while the Jordanian ministry of public works said that the road was designed just for local purposes aiming at enhancing the infrastructure in the touristic areas.
Article from url

In my article yesterday [17 September, 2002] concerning the creation of a second Palestinian-Arab state, I referred to UNISPAL as “the propaganda vector which the UN created specifically to support the Palestinian-Arab propaganda machine.” This comment prompted (at least) one reader to question whether this statement is anything but hyperbole. In fact, far from being hyperbole, my categorization of UNISPAL is probably an understatement. To corroborate my claim and place it in a broader context, I post below a modified version of an article I posted previously on CitCUN, where the issue of the UN as a tool for Palestinian propaganda is discussed in greater detail.

The Department of Political Affairs [DPA] is one of a dozen Departments associated with the UN Secretariate. Its mission statement is so broad, as to cover any conceivable topic. Little wonder, then, that the Palestinian propaganda machine monopolized an entire Division within the DPA, namely, the “Division for Palestinian Rights [DPR]” . Each of the seven other Divisions within the DPA is general, e.g., “Americas and Europe Division”, “Asia and the Pacific Division”, etc. But the Palestinians were going to settle for nothing less than an entire Division - and they got it, confirming the assessment that the UN is a “wholly-owned subsidiary of the Arab League”.

Providing substantive support and secretariat services for the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and its Bureau;

Assisting the Committee in the exercise of its mandate and the promotion and implementation of its recommendations;

Planning, organizing and servicing the Committee’s programme of international meetings;

Consulting and maintaining liaison with NGOs which are active on the issue;

Organizing the annual commemoration of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People;

Preparing studies and publications relating to the question of Palestine and the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people;

Promoting the widest possible dissemination of these studies and publications, including in cooperation with the Department of Public Information;

Maintaining and developing the computer-based United Nations Information System on the Question of Palestine (UNISPAL).

Paraphrased, the mandate of the DPR is to generate and disseminate Palestinian propaganda, using UNISPAL as a vector. In its campaign, the DPR uses as conduits a list of NGOs that runs for 11 screen pages, with approximately 250 NGO’s listed.

Of special interest is the “Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People”, established in 1975, the year of the infamous “Zionism = Racism” resolution. Its mandate follows from the 1974 UN Assembly resolution which recognized that the Palestinians have “the right to self-determination without external interference; the right to national independence and sovereignty; and the right of Palestinians to return to their homes and property from which they had been displaced and uprooted”. One will recall that between 1948 and 1967, the Palestinians in Judea, Samaria and Gaza were under Jordanian and Egyptian occupation. During that period the “rights” listed above were a non-issue.

The DPR octopus has many other tentacles as well, one being the organization of international conferences for the dissemination of Palestinian propaganda. As the DPR calendar of events indicates, in the quarter April - June, 2002 alone, the DPR held three international conferences. In this context one should also note the “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People”, held annually by DPR on November 29 - the very date in 1947 on which the UN voted for the establishment of Israel.

Of all the DPR tentacles, I find the most deplorable to be the preparation of a four-part “study” entitled “THE ORIGINS AND EVOLUTION OF THE PALESTINE PROBLEM, 1917-1988”. In fact, this “study” is an un-camouflaged presentation of the Arab viewpoint, masquerading as a scientific investigation. For example, in the very first paragraphs of this “study”, the author(s) work to delegitimize the British mandate over Palestine which incorporated the Balfour declaration as an integral part of the mandate text. The "study" states:

The decision on the Mandate did not take into account the wishes of the people of Palestine, despite the Covenant's [i.e. the covenant of the League of Nations] requirements that "the wishes of these communities must be a principal consideration in the selection of the Mandatory".

This argument is hardly new and has been answered numerous times, noting the unique character of the Palestine mandate. From Woodrow Wilson to David Lloyd George, the leaders of the League of Nations recognized (i) that Palestine was the ancestral home of the Jewish people, and was inhabited by Jews continuously over the centuries; (ii) that the condition of the Jewish people around the world, and their suffering over generations call for the establishment of a National Home for Jews in their ancestral land; (iii) that allocating a tiny corner of the former Ottoman Empire to the Jews can hardly mean injustice to anyone, bearing in mind the safeguards for the "civil and religious rights" of all inhabitants; and (iv) that the Arabs, who had just been liberated by the Allies from the Ottoman rule, acquired as a consequence of this liberation several sovereign countries, Arabia, Syria and Iraq being examples.

Yet, none of these counter-arguments finds its way into the DPR "study", and anyone who bases his/her information solely on this “study” is left with the distinct impression, right from the study’s opening paragraphs, that the Zionist endeavour was contaminated by injustice from its birth.

Like so many clouds, the DPR “studies” do have their silver lining, for they provide one with the golden opportunity to review the most comprehensive list of the anti-Israeli arguments, thus providing one with the opportunity to ensure that one is aware of the counter-arguments.

The DPR activities noted above represent but a sample of the octopus’ tentacles (the image of the Gorgon Medusa also keeps flashing through my mind).

An article on the same topic was posted by AIJAC Review in September, 1999, under the heading, “UNLimited Support”. The article points to the following additional propaganda tools provided by the UN to the Palestinians:

Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories

A committee created in the wake of the 1967 Six Day War by resolution 2443 (XXIII) of 1968, its three members are appointed by the President of the General Assembly. Currently they are Senegal, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.

Carrying out the duties described by its name, this Committee travels to the Middle East each year to hear opinions on conditions in the territories. This year the Committee has already travelled to Jordan, Egypt and Syria, aside from its regular meetings in Geneva. It reports to the Assembly annually on alleged breaches of Palestinian human rights by Israel. The report is predictably adopted by the Assembly by large voting margins. The Committee’s mandate has been renewed annually since its inception.

United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine (UNCCP)

Established by General Assembly resolution 194 (III) of 1948 to help with the repatriation of refugees, arrange for compensation for the property of those choosing not to return and to assist Israel and the Arabs to reach a final settlement on all outstanding issues. The Commission’s mandate has been renewed annually in the General Assembly.
...

United Nations Development Program (UNDP)

The international development assistance program concentrates on improving the basic infrastructure in the Palestinian territories, developing the Palestinian capacity for self-governance and public administration, and strengthening the economic base of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, particularly in agriculture, industry and trade. It also handles information exchange among donor Governments and international organisations and works closely with NGOs in the areas. UNDP activities are decided jointly with the Palestinian Authority, but are often implemented by the NGOs, who are often the only street-level operators.

United Nations Special Coordinator in the Occupied Territories (UNSCO)

Appointed by the Secretary-General in 1994 in the wake of the Oslo accords, the Special Coordinator in the Occupied Territories is the focal point for all United Nations economic, social and other assistance to the Palestinians in the occupied territories. The current Special Coordinator is Chinmaya Gharekhan of India and under him are five units which deal with United Nations Coordination, Donor Coordination, Economic and Social Monitoring, Legal matters, and Media and NGO Liaison. He coordinates the respective United Nations programmes and agencies that are operating in the Palestinian territories, and maintains contact with the United Nations agencies, the Palestinian Authority, the NGOs and the international donor community in general. The UNSCO also coordinates regular meetings with Palestinian NGOs operating in the Gaza Strip and annual inter-agency meetings, in which the UN finalises its assistance programme for the coming year according to the priorities identified by the Palestinian Authority, which are then submitted to donor countries for possible funding.

Prior to the Oslo accords, there were three United Nations organisations with an ongoing presence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip; UNICEF, UNDP and UNRWA. A number of additional agencies and programmes assisted Palestinians through collaborative efforts with these organisations. Since then, the number of United Nations organisations providing assistance in the West Bank and Gaza Strip has increased to 29; 15 of these have offices in the area, such as the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Gaza, which costs US$1 million each year to maintain. For a recent estimate, the total UN disbursements in 1996 including ongoing projects and regular budgets came to approximately US$245 million, covering virtually all areas of socio-economic development.

The extent of the ongoing United Nations activity relating to the Palestinians is far out of proportion with nationalistic political causes with comparable claims to UN patronage. A useful comparison can be made between the proliferation of Palestinian-related bureaucracy and expenditure at the UN and that which is devoted to the cause of Tibet.

Michael Freund writes in the Jerusalem Post that it is time to retake Joseph's Tomb from the terrorists who captured it two years ago after a humiliating and precedent setting IDF retreat.

This past weekend marked two years on the Hebrew calendar since a Palestinian mob seized control over Joseph's Tomb in Shechem (Nablus), ransacking the Jewish holy site and setting it ablaze.

Though a great deal has happened in the interim, it is difficult to forget the painful scenes of mayhem and destruction that were broadcast around the world at the time.

There was the smoke billowing from the tomb, as Jewish prayer books and other religious articles left behind by the retreating Israeli army were set alight by the crowd. And then there were the Palestinians with pickaxes and hammers, smashing the stone building which housed the site and tearing it apart, brick by brick, in a frenzy of hate and defilement.

Within two days, as an Associated Press dispatch (October 10, 2000) reported, "the dome of the tomb was painted green and bulldozers were seen clearing the surrounding area," as the Palestinians sought to transform the biblical Joseph's resting place into a Moslem holy site.

It was a shocking display, both of the Palestinians' lack of respect for Judaism and its sacred places, and of Yasser Arafat's unwillingness to comply with his commitments......

To leave the site in Palestinian hands would be to reward mob violence. After 24 months of suicide bombings, shootings, stonings and mortar attacks, it is essential that the "original sin" of ditching Joseph's Tomb be corrected forthwith. Such a step would send a clear and unequivocal message to the Palestinians that nothing absolutely nothing will be gained from their resort to carnage and bloodshed. [Read More]

September 17, 2002

Senior Palesinian Minister: We Must Learn From the Hizbullah How To Strike Israel

On 13 September 2002, the Palestinian Minister of Communications, Umad Alpaloji, said in a Chat-Room on the website www.Islamonline.com,
that "the Palestinians must invent new ways of causing damage and pain to the enemy".
The Palestinian Communications Minister said that "We [the Palestinians] have the unique experience of the Hizbullah [the way of the armed struggle with Israel] and we must learn it well and dwell on all its forms".

The minister elaborated on the principles and lessons there are to be learned from the Hizbullah organization and from the way they fight their battle.

He added that the only way of achieving the national Palestinian goals is through armed battle: "The people know that the rights will not be returned unless it will involve force".
found at URL

(Arutz Sheva) The 2,659 fallen soldiers of the Yom Kippur War of 1973 were remembered this morning in a public memorial ceremony at Mt. Herzl in Jerusalem. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that those who fell allowed Israel to turn what had begun to look like defeat into a shining victory. "Just as we emerged victorious then, so will we win the current war as well," he said. The Prime Minister noted that the main lesson of the Yom Kippur War is the necessity of responding whenever an agreement is violated. He said that if Israel had reacted firmly and quickly to Egypt's ceasefire agreement violations in the summer of 1970, the Yom Kippur War might never have broken out.

Meanwhile the Oslo criminals from Meretz disgraced the memories of the fallen soldiers declaring that their sacrifice was wasted.

(Jerusalem Post) In response to Sharon's comments, opposition leader Yossi Sarid of Meretz said the Yom Kippur War could have been avoided, because Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was showing openness to dialogue with Israel, but Israel gave the cold shoulder to his initial advances, and Israel responded with settlements at the entrance to Rafiah.

"The main lessons of the war are: First, it's forbidden to miss any chance for negotiations. Second, it's better to concede on territory for peace, like Begin decided, and do it before things boil over, and not after," he said.

Under the plan unveiled Tuesday, the Quartet would work with the two parties to form a provisional Palestinian State with a new constitution in 2003. As Palestinian reforms and Israeli withdrawals progress, the plan calls for the delivery of humanitarian and security assistance for the Palestinian people and eventually an international conference to discuss a final status solution to the conflict, including an end to hostilities between Israel and Syria.